A 6,768-square-foot Bel Air estate that sold for $19.5 million just two years ago is headed for the wrecking ball, with no plans on file for what comes next.
The City of Los Angeles issued two demolition permits in the week ending Saturday, July 25, for the single-family home and pool house at 10430 West Bellagio Road, according to The Real Deal LA. The permits carry job filing numbers 26019-10000-00625 and 26019-10000-00691.
The seven-bedroom, eight-bathroom home sits on 1.31 acres along one of Bel Air's most exclusive residential corridors, adjacent to the Bel Air Country Club. It last changed hands on June 20, 2023, for $19,500,000, according to Redfin records.
No additional permits indicating plans to rebuild on the property have been filed as of Thursday, July 30. The owner's identity is not disclosed in the permit filings.
The demolition was the second-largest residential teardown permitted in the Los Angeles area that week, behind a 9,780-square-foot retail space at 350 South Hill Street in Downtown.
What Measure ULA means for the next sale
Whatever replaces the home, any eventual sale above $10.9 million would trigger Los Angeles's Measure ULA transfer tax at 5.5 percent of the full sale price. At the 2023 purchase price, that would amount to roughly $1.07 million.
The tax, now three years old, has reshaped the luxury construction market across the city. Remodel permits for high-priced homes in the City of Los Angeles jumped 46 percent after ULA took effect compared to pre-implementation years, according to Attom Data Solutions data cited in a July 26 Real Deal LA report.
"In my experience, it has unquestionably caused some owners to delay selling — but it has also led others to conclude that tying up additional money and years of their lives in a renovation may carry even greater uncertainty than selling today," luxury broker Emil Hartoonian of The Agency told The Real Deal LA on July 26, speaking about the broader Westside market.
Oren Levy, founder of luxury homebuilder Gesh Group, told The Real Deal LA in the same July 26 report that his firm's project mix has flipped since ULA took effect. Pre-ULA, 80 percent of Gesh Group's work was new development. Now it's roughly 60 percent remodeling.
Whether the Bellagio Road owner plans a custom rebuild, intends to hold the land, or has another strategy remains unclear. No hearing dates or permit applications for new construction are on file.
